Lake Alfred – Auburndale – Winter Haven areas
Happy New Year! This is one of the best times of the year to go fishing, the speckled perch are on! As the temperatures drop, fishing gets better. Specs can be found on area shorelines.
Using jigs is a good method to target these fish, but the best bait recommended for specs is live minnows. Our local spec fishermen are bringing in reports of large limits, especially on Lakes Haines, Rochelle and Alfred as well as Lakes Howard, Shipp and Hartridge on the north and south Winter Haven chains.
Other reports are recommending fishing the canals on the chain that is producing the best results. The success of canal fishing can be attributed to the water getting colder in the shallow areas first and encouraging the fish to enter these areas. We will remain in prime season for specs from now through the end of March. If you’re over in our area, stop in anytime and see me for directions and current information.
Bass fishing in our central Florida area is always good. The north and south Winter Haven chain is showing signs of bass starting to stage. We’ve been getting reports of some large eight pound plus bass lately.
It’s best to fish along the shorelines, not toward the shorelines. As the water gets colder, you need to fish slower and deeper to snag the larger fish. All of our area lakes have reports of great bass fishing at this time. If you want that catch of a lifetime, our all-time recommended best bait is still the Booyah lipless crankbait in royal color. Another great bait would be the Bass Assassin boss shiner swimbaits rigged with a weighted swim hook.
Our 19th season of Ron’s Tackle Box Weekly Bass Tournaments is now finished and will not begin again until April, 2018. We want to thank everyone for another great season. We appreciate all of our faithful anglers and friends, many of which have participated for all of those 19 years. See everyone next season!
Submitted By: Ron Schelfo, Owner
RON’S TACKLE BOX, LLC
380 S. Lake Shore Way
Lake Alfred, FL 33850
(863) 956-4990
www.ronstacklebox.com
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